Whereas, the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia have all enacted the Southern Dairy Compact as state legislation; and,

Whereas, these states adopted the Southern Dairy Compact in response to the hemorrhaging loss of the regionís milk supply, whereby every state must now import milk from outside the region to supply at least part of its beverage milk needs, with Alabama and South Carolina supplying less than half their fluid needs; and,

Whereas, establishment of this form of interstate compact is the formal, constitutionally authorized means for a region to address interstate issues of common concern in the public interest; and,

Whereas, these states each adopted the Southern Dairy Compact because the Compact strikes the appropriate balance among all the
interests involved in the regional dairy marketplace, including those of consumers, processors, retailers and farmers alike; and,

Whereas, the Northeast Interstate Dairy Compact has operated successfully as a pilot project in the six New England states since 1996, stabilizing that regionís dairy industry in the manner anticipated for the south under the Southern Dairy Compact; and,

Whereas, southern dairy farmers are experiencing particularly dislocating farm price swings and depressed overall pay prices which are expected to continue throughout 2000 and which will certainly result in an even greater loss of the regionís milk supply without response under the Southern Dairy Compact; now, therefore, be it